Serving all areas of Southern California including Orange County, Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire - Personal Injury Lawyer Sean M. Burke

Focused on Helping You

Sean M. Burke represents Southern California residents who have been severely injured due to negligent medical care, auto accidents, defective products and various other accidents. Residents from areas such as the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, and Orange County entrust personal injury lawyer Sean Burke to help them recover compensation for injuries and wrongful death.

Our dedicated staff provides a personal approach to each case. Mr. Burke carefully chooses his cases and personally handles each one. Whether you live in Orange County, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, or elsewhere in Southern California, personal injury lawyer Sean M. Burke and his staff will make time for you.

Our firm understands how important it is to include clients in the litigation process. We help make clients feel comfortable by keeping them up to date on their case from beginning to end.

Experienced and Highly Rated Attorney Sean M. Burke

Sean M. Burke grew up in West Los Angeles and graduated from Loyola High School in 1971. Mr. Burke earned his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from the University of Southern California in 1976. He graduated from USC Law School and USC Business School in 1981, with a combined JD/MBA degree. He was awarded highest honors for receiving the top grade in his second-year Torts class.

Mr. Burke has been an attorney for almost 25 years, having passed the bar exam on his first attempt in 1981. He became a trial lawyer in 1985, specializing in the representation of plaintiffs. He holds an AV rating - Very High to Preeminent - from Martindale-Hubbell, a nationally recognized rating firm. He was also named Orange County Trial Lawyer Association's (OCTLA) Medical Malpractice Trial Lawyer of the Year for 2005.

Mr. Burke is a long-standing member of the following organizations:

American Trial Lawyers Association
Consumer Attorneys of California
Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles County
Orange County Trial Lawyers Association
Los Angeles County Bar Association
Orange County Bar Association
Long Beach Bar Association

He has also served in the following positions:

Board of Directors of OCTLA, 1997 to 2001
Chairman of the Courts Committee for the Long Beach Bar Association, 1995 to 2001
Member of the Scholarship Committee of the Long Beach Bar Association, 1989 to1995
Board of Governors of the Long Beach Bar Association, 1986 to 1987
President of the Long Beach Barristers, 1987

Mr. Burke's work has been published in the Litigation Section Bulletin of the California Bar Association. Additionally, he has been lecturing at attorneys' continuing-education seminars on medical malpractice and other litigation issues for over 10 years.

From 1981 to 1985, Mr. Burke practiced in the area of business law and venture capital. In 1985, he joined a firm in Long Beach, California that eventually became Thielen and Burke. The firm specialized in catastrophic personal injury cases, including medical malpractice, product liability, and personal injury cases. Mr. Burke obtained one of the highest jury verdicts in California in the area of negligent security when he won $1 million for a Marine Corps soldier who was shot in a fast food restaurant. Mr. Burke has obtained more than $40 million for his clients since 1990.

In 1998, Sean Burke's partner, Joseph Thielen, retired from the practice of law, and Mr. Burke formed his own firm, the Law Offices of Sean M. Burke. In 1999, Mr. Burke moved the office to its current location in Newport Beach, California.

The location of the office allows our firm to serve clients from Orange County, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and elsewhere in Southern California. From our Newport Beach location, personal injury lawyer Sean M. Burke represents people seriously injured in automobile or other accidents, those who suffer injuries as a result of negligent medical or hospital care, elderly people who are neglected or abused, children or infants who suffer birth injuries from medical errors, and people or companies treated unfairly by insurance companies.

Mr. Burke has been named a Southern California Superlawyer by Los Angeles Magazine for four years running (2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008) and was named to the Top 50 Southern California lawyers, Orange County, for 2007, based on a survey conducted among 65,000 lawyers.

Mr. Burke currently lives in Corona del Mar, California with his wife and three wonderful children.

The Law Offices of Sean M. Burke serve all of Southern California, including the Inland Empire, Orange County, and Los Angeles. If you need a personal injury lawyer, contact Sean M. Burke today.

Attorney Heather J. Higson

Heather J. Higson is a 1989 graduate of Pepperdine University School of Law. She received the Best Respondent Brief Award in the Vincent S. Dalsimer Moot Court Competition and top grades in several of her law classes. She attended her Law School's International Program in London during the Fall of 1987 and received the top grade in Comparative Law. She was chosen for a prestigious law clerk position at Morrison & Foerster's London office. Ms. Higson received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Highest Honors (A+) on her Senior Thesis from Middlebury College.

Ms. Higson became a member of the State Bar of California in 1989, the same year she became an Associate Attorney at Rushfeldt, Shelley & Drake, specializing in medical malpractice defense representing physicians and hospitals. In 1991, she relocated to San Diego and worked as an Associate Attorney at Duckor & Spradling representing patients and their families on medical malpractice cases and victims of automobile accidents and product defects.

Ms. Higson married Robert, also an attorney, and relocated to South Orange County. From 1993 to 1999, she was an Associate Attorney at Bonne, Bridges, Mueller, O'Keefe & Nichols in Santa Ana, managing a substantial professional liability case load, specializing in medical malpractice defense representing physicians and hospitals.

In 1999, Ms. Higson established the Law Office of Heather J. Higson and was entrusted with handling the medical malpractice and elder abuse cases of patients and their loved ones, in addition to personal injury and product defect cases for victims. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Higson and Mr. Burke associated on a number of medical malpractice and elder abuse cases, and Ms. Higson officially joined Mr. Burke's law firm in 2006. Ms. Higson has experience in every aspect of medical malpractice work, from case inception through discovery and trial. She takes a conservative approach to case selection, screening cases carefully with medical experts and applying her years of training, experience and intuition to each case evaluation. Maintaining an ethical and aggressive approach to practicing law is a goal that Ms. Higson has met year after year since becoming a member of the State Bar of California in 1989. She is a member of the Orange County Bar Association and the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association.

If you need legal representation in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange County, or elsewhere in Southern California, contact personal injury lawyer Sean M. Burke.

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